Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MUSIC OF ST. PATRICK'S, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Again! Oh! Send that anthem-peal again Last Line: Our nature's limit in its proudest hour? Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea Subject(s): Dublin, Ireland; St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin | ||||||||
THE choral music of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, is almost unrivalled in its combined powers of voice, organ, and scientific skill. The majestic harmony of effect thus produced is not a little deepened by the character of the church itself, which, though small, yet with its dark rich fretwork, knightly helmets and banners, and old monumental effigies, seems all filled and overshadowed by the spirit of chivalrous antiquity. The imagination never fails to recognize it as a fitting scene for high solemnities of old, -- a place to witness the solitary vigil of arms, or to resound with the funeral march at the burial of some warlike king. AGAIN, O, send that anthem peal again Through the arched roof in triumph to the sky! Bid the old tombs ring proudly to the strain, The banners thrill as if with victory! Such sounds the warrior awe-struck might have heard, While armed for fields of chivalrous renown; Such the high hearts of kings might well have stirred, While throbbing still beneath the recent crown! Those notes once more! -- They bear my soul away, They lend the wings of morning to its flight; No earthly passion in the exulting lay Whispers one tone to win me from that height. All is of Heaven! Yet wherefore to mine eye Gush the vain tears unbidden from their source, Even while the waves of that strong harmony Roll with my spirit on their sounding course? Wherefore must rapture its full heart reveal Thus, by the burst of sorrow's token shower! O, is it not, that humbly we may feel Our nature's limit in its proudest hour? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARABELLA STUART by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS BERNARDO DEL CARPIO by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS CASABIANCA by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS ENGLAND'S DEAD by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS EVENING SONG OF THE TYROLESE PEASANTS by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS GREEK SONG: 1. THE STORM OF DELPHI by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS INDIAN WOMAN'S DEATH-SONG by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS IVAN THE CZAR by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS JOAN OF ARC IN RHEIMS by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS MOZART'S REQUIEM by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS ON A FLOWER FROM THE FIELD OF GRUTLI by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS |
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